Rise to Freedom :: The Beginning of the Story
by Lady Lucis
Summary: Ever wondered what would happen if the Angel of Light, the elven Water Guardian of the Fantasy Realm, a very touchy dragon, two high school aged villians, and various others were all conglomerated into one story? Well, then this is a story for you.


Vera:: "Ok, so this is my first chapter/story posted to , so please be nice, although CONSTRUCTIVE critism would be nice, to help me improve my writing style."

Ryuu:: "Vera-chan doesn't own Sailor Moon or it's plot."

Vera:: "But I do own my plot, and Lucis."

Ryuu:: "But not me, Bensvelk or MilkyWay."

Vera:: ………. *Glares* "He's unfortunately right. My friend Josh owns Ryuu and Bensvelk, and my friend Jessi owns MilkyWay. However, I have their permission to use these characters if I don't change their personalities."

Ryuu: "Happy readings!!"

I was falling, I knew that much……… My left wing had seized up from trying to take the strain of both wings when I crashed into the upper atmosphere. "I HATE this stupid greenhouse effect", I agonized silently, "It makes it so annoying to try to get around on this stupid planet. Ugh." I was still falling… I knew I would be for a while, I was so much lighter than most humans, although I looked like one… well, except for the giant white angel wings sticking from my back…… I finally bothered to flip over to see my sure death on the forest floor, but I was suddenly inches away from the surface of a glistening lake. "Oh no! I can't swim!" was all I had time to think before I hit the water with a resounding splash. Ever done a belly flop from a hundred foot high diving board? Times that by ten and you might have been close to what I felt. The air had been knocked from my lungs when I hit the water, so I ended up inhaling a good gallon of lake water. Now immortal I might be, but even I can't breathe underwater. I could feel the black miasma creeping over my eyes, finally hitting the bottom of the lakebed.

I was content to die right then and there, after all, I had nothing to live for anymore. My twin sister, Noctis, was missing, perhaps even dead; my kingdom, destroyed; my kitten and consequently my best friend, Solar Eclipse, probably died defending the Solar Kingdom in my absence; and my parents, well my sister and I never knew our parents. We already existed before the dawn of Existence. I had given up then and there when I felt something wrap around my waist and start towing me away.

When I woke up I saw probably the most handsome guy I had seen in my entire lifetime, and believe me, I've been around a VERY LONG TIME, and I've seen some pretty cute guys. But he had some extraordinarily pointy ears, they made me just want to play with them, much like a cat's infatuation with batting at feathers dangling from a stringed cat toy. He helped me sit up, finally able to breathe again. Staring at him dazedly, I believe I had asked him something along the lines of "Am I dead?" Of course that's the standard question for people who've just survived near-death experiences to find themselves in the company of hot members of their gender preference. He had laughed happily, saying, "I hope not, or I just jumped into the lake to save a drowning angel and drowned myself. And THAT would be very ironic. Bensvelk would kill me for leaving him alone in the middle of a forest with only one little lake."

I sat up a little straighter, finally mostly awake. "Ok. Now that we've solved that problem, who are you?" I questioned, wondering if this 'Bensvelk' was also cute, although I don't think I would have cared. The guy in front of me had my full attention. Something about him just seemed…………… right.

Again he had laughed, but not at me, at something behind me. "I'm Ryuu, Ryuu Mizushima", he replied, "And who might I have the pleasure of addressing, my lady?" he was definitely teasing, he MUST have been teasing, because my dress was soaked through and ripped from my fight with MilkyWay, and my wings were messed up. I felt something poking at one of my destroyed feathers and spun around to see what it was. "Oh my", was all I could manage to say. There was a young dragon in front of me, with one of my feathers that had fallen out in his paw. It chortled wickedly at my surprise, almost as if it liked that it managed to unsettle me like that. The little dragon was clearly a European dragon, with the tiny wings curled up behind it. It was about the size of a large dog, completely white, except for part of it's wings and tail, which were a light blue. It also had a large blue sapphire in the middle of its forehead. Ryuu spoke from behind me, clearly disapproving of the little dragon, but still finding it funny. "No Bensvelk. Don't bother her."

Ah, so this was Bensvelk. That makes much better sense. Bensvelk is draconic for 'good'. Turning back to Ryuu, I finally answered his question. "I'm Lucis. Nice to meet you." While I was saying this, I started ripping out the messed up feathers in my destroyed wings, blushing furiously all the while. Realizing how weird this must look to him, I froze, turning brighter red, then looking up and apologizing. "Thank you for saving me Ryuu. Unfortunately, I had never learned how to swim. I hadn't thought I would need to know how." I said wryly.

"Don't worry, it was no problem." He sounded sincere, but he was blushing too. I made a mental note of this, then tried to stand up. In the end he had to help me stand and walk, because my left leg had been broken in my fight with MilkyWay. Ah, MilkyWay. How to describe her to you, my friends? Imagine a drugged up high school-er that wants to kill me and take over the world with her insanely annoying talking black cat, Sora, and that would be MilkyWay.

"It's getting dark out, do you need a place to stay?" Ryuu asked, leading the way to a small opening in the rocks that made up the small mountain next to the lake.

"I don't mean to impose upon your hospitality, but yes, I do." I replied in embarrassment. He led me in, and tried to use flint and steel to make a fire unsuccessfully for a couple minutes. After a while, I asked if he wanted help and motioned for him to stand back. I flicked my wrist in the direction of the fire pit, and it instantly went ablaze. "There you go." I said happily, trying to ignore the pain from the large cut MilkyWay had given me on my upper arm. He noticed my pained wince as I moved my arm again, and smiled and shook his head. "You helped me, now I'll help you." He walked over to me, and out of a small waterskin hanging from his belt, flowed a small ribbon of water. It didn't fall to the ground as gravity says it should do, however, and it continued to flow forward, wrapping around the cut. It swirled around my arm like a bangle made of water for a couple seconds, then flowed back to Ryuu and into the bag. I checked my arm out, turning it back and forth to inspect it, and saw only a small checkmark shaped scar. "I'm sorry about the scar, but it was a deep cut", he said.

"Hey, don't worry. At least I'm not dripping blood all over the floor anymore." I replied with a shrug. Hearing what sounded like a whine from Bensvelk, I turned to look at him, catching him yawning. I giggled lightly, saying "I think your little fried is tired. Maybe we should go to sleep, it's getting rather late." Ryuu agreed, and pulled out a spare sleeping mat from his bag for me. Now for those of you who have their minds in the gutter, I just want to say, NOTHING HAPPENED. Just because he's cute and he saved me, does NOT mean something happened. OK? Good.

Ryuu:: "Wow, you really seem to like breaking the forth wall… Not only do you break it, but you smash the rubble to pieces too…"

Vera:: "Yup! I find my writing style often breaks the 'writer's non-existent fourth wall' (which for those of you who don't know, it's when a character speaks directly to the audience. i.e. Lucis saying: "Ah, MilkyWay. How to describe her to you, my friends?" was breaking the fourth wall)"

Ryuu:: "Do I have to lock you in the closet again?"

Vera:: "Do _I_ have to kick you again?"

Ryuu:: *Wince* "No ma'am. You are the Almighty Ruler of all that is Good and Light…"

Vera:: "_AND?_"

Ryuu:: "And I'll do whatever you say as long as you don't kick me again?"

Vera:: "Oh close enough."


End file.
